friendcation

I've been pretty quiet over the last week or two because... my friend Dana came to visit!!! We've been friends for about 11 years now - that picture up there is from Dana's Sweet 16 (I think? Dana?), we're the two sans glasses. We hated each other when we first met, then we became inseparable so much so that we were voted "Best Friends!" for our senior year superlatives, and then we had a little, um... break? for a hot minute in our college years and THEN we went back to being our old selves. But we hadn't seen each other in two years because I moved to North Carolina. (The worst part of getting sick and having to move here is that I honestly never see my friends, and I haven't made an attempt to make any new ones here, so... wah.)

We've been talking about a visit for a while, and the other day it quickly came together! She sent me a message saying something along the lines of, "Uh, how long do you want me in your house? Like is 10 days too much?" And I sent back an obvious and immediate NO! NOT TOO MUCH! And it was all set. She's a big doof and told me to pick her up at the wrong airport, but she realized it with enough time that I didn't drive out of my way, after all! I did have a good laugh about it, though. 

first time seeing each other in YEARS!!!!!

The first thing she said to me when we met at the airport and hugged was, "You're so skinny!!" which is objectively false BUT sealed her in my heart forever, because I have been working on my weight. She also told me my shoes were awesome, so she's a keeper of a friend if I've ever seen one. 

When we had talked online she told me that she hoped we'd just "be doing a lot of hanging out, doing absolutely nothing!" And between the weather (drizzly) and the fact that I'm still recovering from surgery, I definitely delivered on that request. We mostly just sat on the couch and watched movies (Ghostbusters forever!). 

I did manage to take her to see some of the scenes, though! We went through Pisgah Forest, and that's always a treat. Here are some pictures I'd like to keep on this blog - I love looking back at posts months/years later and remembering such fun things! 

Dana said she absolutely needs to come in the summer when the weather is nice enough to fully enjoy all the waterfalls here and I quite agree. I make fun of the south a lot, but the area I live in really is like a natural playground. So many mountains, lakes, rivers, and waterfalls. 

Another highlight was a trip to the movies to see Hidden Figures; it was phenomenal. If money were no thing I'd go see it 10 more times. (Funny sidenote: we happened to go on a Tuesday, which is my beloved "discount day" when the tickets are lowered to $6! Because of that and the time we chose - 1:25 in the afternoon - it was packed with older people. It was kind of sweet though, seeing all those old couples and groups of girlfriends having a day out. But it was crazy because we were literally the youngest people there!) 

In a bit of role-reversal, *I* made *her* take a selfie of us this time because I was having my annual good hair day lmao

We went out for Mexican food, we rented about 5,000,000 movies over the course of ten days, we went to Applebees and lamented the menu changes, and I made her come to mass with me one day because she's an art person and the church I go to is incredibly beautiful, so I thought she'd appreciate it. It was a very chill, laid-back visit. She left yesterday and I'm already sitting here making a list of all the fun things we can do when she comes back in the summer!

There's nothing like good friends. :) 

Charlotte